The world of wrestling has created many urban legends that we don’t have an official answer to. All promotions have had their fair share of backstage drama to go down. Wrestling locker rooms have been known for being like high school cafeterias in terms of cliques, relationship drama and petty rivalries. These factors come together to create rumors and theories that pick up steam online. Online reports and fan speculation will lead to these stories catching fire. The three promotions to have the most urban legends over the past three decades have been WWE, WCW and Impact Wrestling.

WWE has obviously been the standard for wrestling for most of that time and it creates the most dramatic stories out there. WCW was a minefield for controversy leading to fascinating rumors that could never be answered even after they went out of business. Impact Wrestling never achieved as much success as the other two promotions, but they were even more prone for ridiculous stories. Each promotion has a plethora of urban legends that we are always wondering about. We'll look at instances from all three companies in play here. These are seven WWE, seven WCW and seven TNA urban legends that are still mysteries today.

21 WWE: Was John Cena behind the 'Piggie James' storyline?

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The reputation of John Cena is relatively clean as he rarely got into trouble during his time as the face of the WWE. Cena portrayed the ultimate good guy with a poster boy image for the PG-era. One rumor to make the round that placed him in a very negative light featured his relationship with Mickie James ending. The romance allegedly started when James cheated on boyfriend Ken Doane to start a relationship with Cena.

Following a few months of dating, Cena broke up with Mickie and reportedly tried to sabotage her career. As the biggest star in the company with a close relationship to Vince, the urban legend here is that Cena used his power to influence the ‘Piggie James’ storyline. Michelle McCool and Layla El relentlessly mocked James about her weight in an embarrassing storyline. If Cena truly was behind this, it was his ugliest moment in WWE.

20 WCW: Did Hulk Hogan convince Nick Patrick to ruin Starrcade 1997 main event?

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Hulk Hogan turning heel to form the New World Order was the biggest move to create a shift in the industry during the Monday Night Wars. WCW finally was on the level of WWE and passed them in the ratings battle. Hogan however did as much damage behind the scenes to hurt the company as he did to help on-screen.

The contract clause of creative control allowed Hogan to refuse to do storylines or finishes he felt were wrong for his character. One huge instance of this featured Hogan losing to Sting at Starrcade 1997 in controversy. It was the biggest match in WCW to that point after a year and a half of build. Instead of Sting winning, Hogan scored a victory with a perceived fast count before the match restarted for Sting to take the title. However, the ‘fast count’ looked like a completely normal count from Nick Patrick. Many pundits believe Hogan convinced Patrick to count normally to make him look better in the process.

19 TNA: Did Dixie Carter have a personal relationship with Magnus?

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The management skills of Dixie Carter hurt Impact Wrestling in the long run. Fans often viewed TNA as a joke in the overall landscape of wrestling. The company wanted to contend with WWE but failed to stand out as a successful brand on its own. Carter was viewed as the main culprit making the terrible business decisions to doom them.

There is one urban legend regarding Dixie potentially mixing business with pleasure. It was obvious from day one that Magnus was one of Carter’s personal favorite performers. The look of Magnus impressed her enough to make the call in signing him and she has publicly stated he was a very handsome guy. This led to rumors of her being involved with the talent behind the scenes. Magnus and Dixie worked together during his heel title reign as well.

18 WWE: Why did Hulk Hogan have a black eye at WrestleMania IX?

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Controversy followed Hulk Hogan throughout his career in every promotion he worked for. WWE was the company that saw most of his ego come into play during his rise as the biggest star in the industry. Hogan dominated WWE for about a decade and refused to give up his role. WrestleMania IX featured him weaseling his way into an impromptu title shot to win the WWE Championship over Yokozuna.

The most memorable thing about this moment was Hogan having a black eye before his match. It was obvious this black eye did not come from the ring. Hogan claimed a jet ski accident took place a few days before the show to cause this. However, the rumor mill indicated that Randy Savage got into a fight with him leading to punches being thrown. Savage no longer being with us means we’ll likely never know the truth about this urban legend.

17 WCW: Was Mike Awesome planning to throw ECW Championship in trash?

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Eric Bischoff was known for having wrestlers do controversial things at the expense of other promotions to create interest. Nitro featured Madusa throwing the WWE Women’s Championship into a trash can. Another instance of this was close to happening according to various people in the business. Mike Awesome made the jump from ECW to WCW during his reign as ECW Champion when his contract ended.

Joey Styles and Paul Heyman claim that Bischoff wanted Awesome to drop the ECW belt into a trash on his first night. The story goes that Heyman used his lawyer to threaten WCW with a law suit. Awesome was forced to return to ECW and drop the title to Taz. Bischoff has denied this story, but the track record of WCW makes it more likely that Heyman’s side of things is correct.

16 TNA: Did TNA feed wrestlers unhealthy food to save money?

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Another embarrassing story about Impact Wrestling featured the way they treated wrestlers in the small ways. We already know about the more disrespectful rumors of wrestlers being offered cheap contracts and being paid late. However, smaller things like the catering apparently showed just how low rent the TNA company was being run. Former women’s wrestling star Lisa Varon (WWE’s Victoria/TNA’s Tara) ranted about his in a shoot interview.

Varon called out TNA for having unhealthy food offered to the wrestlers at catering most weeks. There was a weekly ‘Taco Tuesday’ theme for the wrestlers during television tapings on Tuesdays. This would be fun for most of us, but wrestlers having to stay in athletic shape typically prefer better food. Impact clearly didn’t put much thought into helping make life easy for their talent.

15 WWE: Was Chris Jericho supposed to main event WrestleMania 2000?

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Chris Jericho had a rough start to his WWE career in 1999 following the great debut. While the initial debut was iconic, Jericho instantly fell down the card and looked like a bust for a few months. Things changed for the better as 2000 started for Jericho. It appears WWE almost believed in him enough at that point to consider him for the main event of WrestleMania 2000.

Jericho appeared in a leaked poster with The Rock, Triple H and Big Show as the four wrestlers each representing a McMahon in the main event. Mick Foley ended up being the wrestler with Linda McMahon in his corner instead of Jericho like poster advertised. Jericho believes it was going to be his spot until Vince realized Foley having one more match before retirement would draw viewers in. Some pundits think it was just a mistake by the promotional team, but we’ll likely never know for sure.

14 WCW: Did Hulk Hogan talk Eric Bischoff into sabotaging Bret Hart?

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The use of Bret Hart in WCW is considered one of the biggest examples of why the company failed so badly in the end. Hart joined WCW as the hottest story in the industry following the Montreal Screwjob. Instead of capitalizing off it and using Hart in a major role, he served as a guest referee in his first night and got involved in mid-card storylines to start his WCW career.

There was heat between Hulk Hogan and Bret going back to Hogan’s WWE departure. Hogan refused to put Hart over as planned on the way out to cause a hatred between the two. Bret believes Hogan used his backstage power and friendship with Eric Bischoff to sabotage his career. Considering Hart never got pushed in any relevant manner until Bischoff was out of power, the logic lines up. It almost had to be intentional to use a successful wrestler that poorly.

13 TNA: Did Mick Foley intentionally hurt Bubba the Love Sponge for the TNA locker room?

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Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff found another locker room to alienate when seizing control of TNA. Dixie Carter was talked into giving the power of the product to Hogan and Bischoff as they claimed they could lead Impact Wrestling to the level of WCW. Bischoff and Hogan promised another Monday Night Wars, but they instead continued to get mediocre ratings.

The new duo in charge started hiring their friends to become part of the company. Radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge joined TNA to become a backstage interviewer. He ended up getting into a fight with Awesome Kong for making racist comments. The locker room despised Bubba along with everything Hogan and Bischoff were doing. An angle saw Mick Foley punch Bubba and legitimately break his nose. The urban legend is that Mick did it on purpose on behalf of the locker room and it’s hard to argue watching it back.

12 WWE: Did Buff Bagwell have his mom call in sick for him?

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The WWE career of Buff Bagwell ended faster than anyone could have predicted. Bagwell joined WWE after Vince McMahon purchased WCW and wanted to have a test run with a WCW match on WWE television. The horrible performance of Bagwell against Booker T led to the crowd turning on it to ruin the plans of WCW having its own show.

Bagwell got into a fight with Shane Helms backstage and did not show up to Raw the following week. Jim Ross claims Buff had his mother Judy Bagwell call in with an excuse for him. This led to WWE firing Bagwell and ending his relevance in wrestling. Buff claims JR completely made this up and has gone as far to curse him out in interviews. Both sides have drastically difference recollections to this, but most fans believe JR.

11 WCW: Did wrestlers work under the influence?

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The wild locker room environment of WCW led to many negative rumors about how the company was being run. An appropriate comparison was inmates running an asylum with no one to keep things in order. This is the main reason most wrestlers believe WWE won the Monday Night Wars. Vince McMahon led his company and Eric Bischoff allowed his wrestlers to run things.

One allegation to become popular is the belief that many wrestlers worked while under the influence. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were accused of wrestling drunk numerous times. Raven and various members of The Flock reportedly took drugs while sitting in the front at shows before their run-ins. Considering the danger of working under the influence in wrestling, this is a very damaging urban legend for WCW’s legacy.

10 TNA: Who is Benjamin Shelton?

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Another bad story for Dixie Carter’s reputation comes from her lack of knowledge in the wrestling business. Tazz shared a story on his podcast about Carter interacting with Shelton Benjamin at a company gathering. Benjamin was in the area and showed up to interact with his friends that worked at TNA during this time.

Dixie met him and heard from other wrestlers about his talent level following his release from WWE. Tazz claims that Carter showed up the following day and asked about the contract status of someone named “Benjamin Shelton.” Despite being a respected and credible name in the industry, Dixie still didn’t know the actual name of this performer. If this story is true, it is a horrible look for a person running a wrestling promotion to not know the name of a big free agent name after meeting him.

9 WWE: Did Bret Hart have "Sunny days?"

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The bad blood between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels behind the scenes spilled over to the on-screen product in ugly fashion. Michaels accused Hart of cheating on his wife with Tammy ‘Sunny’ Sytch in a promo completely breaking the script. This led to the issues getting out of control and Hart wanting to fight Michaels backstage.

Both Bret and Sunny have vehemently denied the allegations of having an affair for years. It is likely they are telling the truth given their history. Hart admitted to cheating on his then wife with women on the road, but he still denied any intimacy with Sunny. The recent years have seen Sytch out just about every wrestler she slept with and Hart isn’t on the list. Michaels feeling confident enough to say it on national television still makes us wonder about it being true or not.

8 WCW: Was Vince Russo a WWE plant sent to kill WCW?

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Vince Russo played a huge role in WCW going out of business. The company was in bad shape comparative to WWE, but they didn’t seem to be nearing the point of dying until Russo arrived. Management hired Russo after he sold them on being the man behind the success of WWE’s Attitude Era and vowed to take over the ratings war once again.

The writing of Russo saw the company fall apart harder than ever before. Russo wrote some of the most outlandish storylines and alienated most of the locker room. WCW lost more money to the point of no return and went out of business shortly after Russo was done. Many people in the business have speculated that Russo was a plant sent by Vince McMahon to kill WCW once and for all. It may be worse if he wasn’t a plant considering how easy it is to believe his writing was intentionally trying to kill a company.

7 TNA: Did Hulk Hogan cancel Bobby Roode's title win hours before the show?

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The power of Hulk Hogan in TNA changed the careers of many wrestlers. Mr. Anderson, Rob Van Dam and the veterans coming over from WWE were treated with more respected. Homegrown talent received less opportunities and were treated with minimal respect. Bobby Roode saw this when Hogan started running down his work out of the blue.

Ahead of the Bound for Glory main event featuring Roode challenging Kurt Angle for the TNA Championship, Hogan trashed him in interviews and stated he wasn’t ready for the moment. Reports circulated that Hogan changed the plans of the booking team when a heel Angle shockingly retained the title at the biggest show of the year. Roode turned heel and won the title back a few months later, but the mystery of Hogan burying young talent in his old age is the main takeaway here.

6 WWE: Is Peter Rosenberg paying WWE to get booked?

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A recent urban legend to make its way into wrestling discussions features Peter Rosenberg’s role in WWE. The company has Rosenberg appear on the pre-show specials before WWE Network events. Rosenberg joins Renee Young and Booker T or Jerry Lawler to break down the big matches on each show. There is a rumor floating around that Rosenberg pays WWE to be a part of the product.

Kevin Owens even referenced it on a recent PPV pre-show when Rosenberg attempted to interview him. Sami Zayn and Owens refused to answer any questions from Rosenberg, and Owens said he even heard that Rosenberg pays to be on WWE content. Rosenberg has denied it, but most would deny if they were paying to be on a show. If true, it is one of the saddest WWE stories in quite some time.

5 WCW: Did DDP and Eric Bischoff mix business with pleasure?

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Diamond Dallas Page was one of the most beloved wrestlers by WCW fans, but some wrestlers were against his push. While DDP certainly had fan support, he happened to be a close friend and the neighbor of Eric Bischoff. Many wrestlers believe his opportunities in the company came thanks to Bischoff looking out for his boy and wanting to take care of him.

An urban legend to grow through the years had wrestlers and fans wondering just how close Bischoff and Page were. There is speculation that Eric and his wife would engage in a swinging relationship with DDP and his wife Kimberly - even Sunny revealed this story claiming it was true. It added fuel to the belief that DDP received special treatment by Eric due to their closer relationship at home. Page being selected over top stars to be a part of celebrity angle tag teams with Jay Leno and Karl Malone is a factor that many believe play into the preferential treatment.

4 TNA: Did Abyss turn down a WrestleMania match with The Undertaker out of loyalty for TNA?

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Impact Wrestling veteran Abyss has gone on the record that he was offered a WWE contract to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania 22. Tommy Dreamer was working in the WWE office at the time and tried to get Abyss to jump ship to WWE. The monster character of Abyss was growing momentum at that time and Undertaker was badly in need of a WrestleMania opponent to continue the streak.

This urban legend seems ridiculous because no sane person would turn down an instant WrestleMania feud with Undertaker to remain with a struggling promotion. Abyss claims he was loyal to TNA and wanted to continue working there. The fact that Abyss has never left TNA through the years helps add some credence to his comments. Undertaker ended up facing Mark Henry in a last-minute feud. Maybe Abyss really did have a shot at the opportunity of his career and turned it down.

3 WWE: Did The Rock refuse to wrestle Shawn Michaels?

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One of the dream matches between two legends of the same era to never take place featured The Rock and Shawn Michaels. Both men are remembered as Attitude Era wrestlers despite not being top stars at the same time. Michaels retired in 1998 right before Rock ascended into a top role as one of the biggest Superstars of all-time. The return of Michaels in 2002 saw many fans wanting Rock to face off with him.

Rumor has it that the original plans for WrestleMania XX would have seen Michaels face The Rock in the co-main event. The urban legend is that Rock refused the match and claimed he would never wrestle with Michaels. Bret Hart’s book shared details about Michaels trying to sabotage The Rock’s career in its early stages due to seeing him as competition. Chris Jericho has said on his podcast that he heard directly from Rock that he didn’t want to work Michaels.

2 WCW: Did WCW only sign Ultimate Warrior to give Hulk Hogan his win back?

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An absolutely horrible waste of money saw WCW pay Ultimate Warrior over a million bucks to make a handful of appearances. Warrior’s only true storyline saw him come to the company to haunt Hulk Hogan. The story in play was that Warrior defeated Hogan in WWE and Hogan has never been able to get redemption leading to a big match between the two.

WCW’s Hogan/Warrior match is viewed as one of the all-time worst matches in wrestling history. Hogan defeated Warrior to get his win back and Warrior was gone a couple of weeks later. WCW stopped using him with no plans for another storyline despite the fat contract. Most experts believe Hogan convinced Eric Bischoff to bring Warrior in solely for him to get his win back. It is one of many stories about Hogan’s massive ego killing WCW.